Ankita to take on Maloo in ITF quarters

New Delhi, June 3 (IANS) Top seed Ankita Bhambri swept aside Treta Bhattacharyya 6-2, 6-3, to set up a quarter-final clash with Parija Maloo in the $10,000 International Tennis Federation (ITF) tournament at the DLTA complex here Wednesday. Maloo, an undergraduate student at the University of South Alabama, was clinical in her 6-1, 6-3 demolition of Swiss Stephanie Theileron in hot, windswept morning here.

Rashmi Teltumbde was the only other Indian to make the last eight when her opponent, fourth seed Yoon-Young Jeong, pulled out while trailing 1-3 complaining of stomach problem. Rashmi next plays Chinese Chun-Yan He who moved up as another Korean Seo-Kyung Kang retired, also citing a stomach disorder when she was trailing 0-5.

For Ankita, 22, it was once again a straight sets win. She was far superior to teenaged Treta who could not keep pace with the Delhi girl’s power play. The eldest of the Bhambri siblings sprinted to a 5-0 lead in the first set but was broken in the seventh game, serving for the set. She broke back immediately.

In the second set, too, Ankita was cruising when Treta, 18, broke her in the seventh game, but the top seed easily served out in her next time around to win the match lasting a little over an hour.

Ankita played Maloo only once, at the last year’s ITF, but conceded the match owing to an injury when she was trailing 2-4.

“I haven’t played Parija before, so I don’t know much about her game. I will try to put as many balls as possible in play,” Ankita said.

“I played okay today. But I still feel I need to iron out some flaws. She (Treta) was making lots of errors and that helped me.”

The petite Maloo, who advanced to her second consecutive quarter-final in as many weeks, said she was confident to take on Ankita.

“Earlier, I could barely manage to win long-drawn-out matches because of my lack of stamina. But our university trainer has helped me in improving my fitness and that is reflecting in my on-court performance. Now I don’t cramp that often. Also, I am moving much better,” Maloo said.

“I am confident about my match against Ankita.”

As for other Indians, Shivika Burman and Sonya Dayal, it was curtains. Burman lost to a determined and nimble-footed Korean qualifier Soon-mi Seo who rallied from a set down to win 2-6, 6-1, 6-3 while Dayal went down to last week’s champion and eighth-seeded Chinese Ying-ying Duan, 1-6, 4-6.